


Five Things That Never Happened to Dorothy Gale

by Annie D (scaramouche)



Category: Return to Oz
Genre: Alternate Reality, Angst, Drama, Gen, five things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-08-26
Updated: 2004-08-26
Packaged: 2017-10-02 19:05:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scaramouche/pseuds/Annie%20D





	Five Things That Never Happened to Dorothy Gale

Dorothy almost trips, but her hand is fast as it reaches out and clamps a hem of flying skirt.

“But you must!” she pleads. “My friends are in trouble! You’ve helped me before, don’t you remember?”

“Get away!” She kicks at Dorothy, sending her sprawling against the yellow bricks. “This place has been dead a long time.”

“But I know you! You might look a little different but you still have your wand—”

She is cut off when slender fingers wrap themselves around her tiny neck. “Don’t you know the rules, you stupid girl? Only bad witches are ugly.”

* * *

Years on, she still dreads it.

Dorothy knows she wasn’t chosen due to her own merit. She’s just a trophy; a last reminder of an era long gone.

Still, she never stops trying to fight back, hoping against hope that maybe this time the magic will fail, or the lock won’t fit, or she’ll finally be strong enough to fight back. She knows who she is: she’s Dorothy Gale, the _rightful owner_, up until— __

_Click._ The slither of cold moves in, settling into the place behind her eyes.

Mombi smiles faintly as she walks away from the empty 32nd cabinet.

* * *

The sky is beautiful from down here, all white clouds and blue sky, like something out of a picture book. Dorothy wonders whether it’s the same sky that Auntie Em and Uncle Henry are under, but that thought doesn’t last.

If she could feel, she’d be home to the sensation of sand tickling her skin, crawling like ants up her limbs. And though she can’t, she knows well enough that it’s not long to go.

“It’s okay, Jack,” she whispers, just before his smile crumbles away. She can hear the rest of them falling, but she doesn’t see them land.

* * *

There’s no way that Dorothy can say no.She knows in her heart that this place has become more her home than any old farm with its adults who are too simple to believe, and she knows that there’s nowhere else in existence where she’d be more safe or more loved. This happiness has been earned.

She can’t stop smiling even when the Scarecrow puts the crown on her head and leans down to give her the best hug of her life.

Though when she looks over his shoulder to see her sparkling glory, her reflection’s smile is strangely sad.

* * *

She wakes up all dizzy and disoriented, and there is emptiness in her stomach.

They are kind to her as they help her to her room, even when she cries wordlessly over something she aches for but cannot describe. For days she hides under the bed, though mostly when the scary nurse comes by with her tray.

This world is alien to her; she cannot recognise what they tell her she should.

The only thing she knows for sure is that her name is Dorothy Gale. It says so on the band around her wrist, so it must be true.


End file.
